



ailm- United States Patent '0 WASHING AND SOFTENING TEXTILE GDODS Walter Hagge and Mathieu Qnaedvlieg, Leverlruse Bayerwerk, Germany, assignors to Farbenfabriken Bayer Aktiengesellschaft, Leverkusen, Germany, a corporation of Germany No Drawing. Application January 9, 1951, Serial No. 205,214

Claims priority, application Germany January 13, 1950 9 Claims. (Cl. 117-47) The present invention relates to a treatment of textile fabrics and more particularly it concerns a method of treating textile goods which are usually laundered.

The washing agents commonly applied in laundering consists of soap and/ or the so-called synthetic detergents for instance long-chain alkyl sulfates or sulfonates and fatty alcohol condensation products which are usually mixed with auxiliary agents, such as alkali carbonates, silicates and/or phosphates. These additional agents, however, tend to react with the calcium and magnesium ions present in the ordinary washing water, whereby salts are precipitated which are liable to be deposited on the fibres of the textile fabrics during the washing step, especially if detergents are applied that are not capable of keeping the soil and other undissolved substances sufiiciently suspended in the washing liquor. The mineral salts deposited on the fibres render the fabrics liable to be weakened, particularly at those parts of the textile goods which are exposed to friction or rubbing, as for instance the edges of collars or sleeves.

It is an object of the present invention to obviate this drawback encountered in the course of frequent laundering.

A further object is to provide a method for prolonging the useful life of textile fabrics which are frequently washed and to enhance their utility performance in general.

These and other objects will become apparent from consideration of the following specification and the appended claims.

The objects of the invention are accomplished by treating textile fabrics which are usually laundered, with a softening agent after the washing step has been performed.

The softening agents may be added to the usual rinsing bath; it is, however, of greater advantage to add the softening agents to a separate bath following the rinsing bath. The amount of softening agent added to the bath and the proportion of textile goods to liquor may vary within wide limits; in most cases it will be sufiicient to adjust the concentration of the softening agent in the bath to about 1 gram per liter, while the proportion of goods to liquor is 1: 20.

As softening agents all those can be resorted to for carrying out the present invention which are known as softeners in the art of textile finishing; particularly suitable are those softeners which have substantive properties. The term softening agent includes also mixtures of softeners.

Among the various relevant textbooks of textile finishing which reveal a great number of softening agents suitable for performing the present invention, Chwala, Textilhilfsmittel, Vienna 1939, particularly pages 61 to 64, Marsh, An introduction to Textile Finishing, London 1948, particularly chapter X, and Schwartz-Perry, Surface Active Agents, New York 1949, particularly pages 435 to 437 may be referred to.

Of the numerous softening agents which are usually subdivided into non-ionised, anion-active, cation-active or anion-cation-active softeners respectively, the following agents are mentioned as suitable for the treatment of textile fabrics according to the invention by way of example only: Ester-, etheror amide-like condensation products containing polyalcohol, polyglycol, polyglycerol or polyamide radicals and suitable higher molecular, preferably long-chain aliphatic radicals with 12 to 18 carbon atoms, such as for instance fatty acid or fatty alcohol condensation products of the general formula R.(C2H20)n-CH2OH, wherein R stands for the monovalent radical of an aliphatic alcohol or an aliphatic acid or acid amide with 12 to 18 carbon atoms and n-for a number from 5 to 10, fatty acid sarcosides, sulfated or sulfonated long-chain aliphatic alcohols, condensation products of long-chain fatty acids with hydroxyor amino-sulfonic acids, such as compounds of the formula C11HasCON( CH3 CHzCHzSOaNa condensation products derived from long-chain aliphatic acids, such as oleic acid, and protein hydrolysates, sulfonated long-chain fatty aromatic ketones, sulfonated ophenylenediamines condensed with long-chain aliphatic acids, higher molecular amines such as stearylarnine, dodecylmethylamine, diguanides of the general formula NH NH wherein R stands for a monovalent long-chain aliphatic radical, for instance C18H37, higher molecular imidazolines and benzimidazoles, inner ethers of polyvalent alkylolamines, the so-called morpholines, quaternary ammonium compounds, such as cetyl pyridinium chloride or cetyl trimethyl ammonium chloride, lauryl pyridinium lauryl sulfate C12Ha5N(C5H5)SOaOC12H25 and lauryl pyridinium laurate CmH25N(C5l-i5)OOC.C11I-I23, acylated or alkylated aikyl polyamines, monoor polyester of long-chain fatty acids with monoor poly-oxyamines, furthermore sulfonium and phosphoniurn compounds as they are described by Chwala, l. 0., pp. 62 to 63.

Cation-active softeners which are soluble only in the form of salts obtained with inorganic or organic acids are preferably applied in mixture with emulsifying agents since the rinsing bath usually shows an alkaline reaction tending to render the cation-active softeners insoluble. Emulsifying agents of neutral nature, such as esters or ethers of long-chain aliphatic acids or alcohols with polyglycols or polyglycerols are to be preferred; suitable anionic surface active agents may also be resorted to, such as for instance higher molecular alkyl or aralkyl sulfonates, but in this case an excess of the emulsifying agent has to be applied so that the precipitate which is previously formed by the reaction of the anionic and cationic surface active substances will be dispersed. If cation-active softening agents are used which contain hydroxy or amino groups the solubility of the compounds may be improved by reaction with ethylene oxide. The cation-active softeners exhibit pronounced substantive properties so that they can be applied at lower bath concentrations than the other softening agents in the performance of the present invention. V

The following examples are illustrative of specific applications of the invention:

Example I -.affin sulfonate, 5%.isododecylphenylsulfonate, 40% sodium carbonate and 4% sodium silicate, the proportion of goods to liquor being 1:20; After each washing the textile fabric was rinsed and then treated in a bath containing per liter 1 gram of a weakly sulfonated tallow, the ratio of, goods to liquor being likewise 1:20. After this treatment the breaking number was found to be 6750. A comparative sample which had been washed ten times with the same detergent Without being subjected to a treatment with a softening agent after the rinsing step showed a breaking number of only 120. The breaking number was determined according to Bodenbender, Zellwolle, 3rd edition, Berlin 1939, p. 230.

Example 2 The textile fabric of Example 1 was washed ten times as described in Example 1 and after the rising step was treated each time in a bath containing as softening agent 1 gram of oleyl sarcoside per liter. The breaking number was then found to be 5430. Without treatment with a softening agent the breaking number was reduced to 130 even when 2% of a long-chain fatty acid had been added to the detergent applied.

Example 3 The textile fabric of Example 1 was washed ten timesas described in Example 1 and after the rinsing step was treated each time in a bath containing as softening agent per liter 1 gram of a fatty acid polyglycerol ester obtainable by causing 1 mol of a long-chain fatty acid to react withat least 2 mols of glycerol according to German Patent 575,911. After ten launderings the breaking number amounted to 6270.

Example 4 The textile fabric of Example 1 was washed ten times as described in Example 1 and after the rising step was treated each time in a bath containing as softening agent per liter 0.3 gram of a mixture of equal parts of the monoand di-ester of triethanolamine with a saturated long-chain aliphatic acid in the form of their acetates. After this treatment a breaking number of 28,000 was determined, that is to say a considerable increase of the original breaking number of 12,000.

Example 5 Example 6 The textile fabric of Example 1 was washed ten times as described in Example 1 and after the rinsing step was treated each time in a bath containing as softening agent per liter 0.3 gram of a mixture of equal parts of distearic acid amide of triethylenetetramine in the form of 'the hydrochloride and oleyl polyglycol ether. After ten launderings the breaking number amount to 27,000.

Example 7 Thetextile fabric of Example 1 was washed ten times as described in Example 1 and after the rinsing step was treated each time in a bath containing as softening agent per liter 0.2 gram of the acetate of a condensation productobtained by causing 1 mol of stearylamine to react with.2.0 ,mols of ethyleneoxide. The breaking number after :tenlaunderings was ,found to be 25,000.

Therniethod of treating textile goods with softening 4 agents may be combined with the method of treating textile goods with fluorescent substances known in the art as capable of producing whitening effects on textile materials.

When textile fabrics made from other artificial silk material than viscose rayon are referred to in the above examples or goods made from cotton, linen or the like are subjected to the treatment of the present invention, similar results will be obtained.

It will be understood that many variations and modifications may be made in the details of procedure above set forth without departing from the spirit of the invention.

We claim:

1. A method of laundering finished textile goods that are already soft to the touch and are usually repeatedly laundered, which comprises washing said textile goods in a bath containing a synthetic detergent of the group consisting of long chain alkyl sulfates, long chain alkyl sulfonates and fatty alcohol-condensation products and an auxiliary mineral agent of the group consisting of alkali carbonates, alkali silicates and alkali phosphates, and subsequently rinsing the goods in a separate bath containing a cation-active textile softening agent.

2. A method of laundering finished textile goods that are already soft to the touch and are usually repeatedly laundered, which comprises washing said textile goods in a bath containing a synthetic detergent of the group consisting of long chain alkyl sulfates, long chain alkyl sulfonates and fatty alcohol condensation products and an auxiliary mineral agent of the group consisting of alkali carbonates, alkali silicates and alkali phosphates, and subsequently rinsing the goods in a-scparate bath containing as the textile softening agent a member of the group consisting of higher molecular amines, diguanidcs and imidazolines.

3. A method of laundering finished textile goods that are already soft to the touch and are usually repeatedly laundered, which comprises washing said textile goods in a bath containing a synthetic detergent of the group consisting of long chain alkyl sulfates, long chain alkyl sulfonates and fatty alcohol condensation products and an auxiliary mineral agent of the group consisting of alkali carbonates, alkali silicates and alkali phosphates, and subsequently rinsing the goods in a separate bath containing as the textile softening agent a member of the group consisting of monoand polylongchain fatty acid amides of alkylpolyamines.

4. A method of laundering finished textile goods that are already soft to the touch and are usually repeatedly laundered, which comprises washing said textile goods in a bath containing a synthetic detergent of the group consisting of long chain alkyl sulfates, long chain alkyl sulfonates and fatty alcohol condensation products and an auxiliary mineral agent of the group consisting of alkali carbonates, alkali silicates and alkali phosphates, and subsequently rinsing the goods in a separate bath containing as the textile softening agent a material having substantive properties and selected from the group consisting of monoand polyesters of long-chain fatty acids with a member of the group consisting of monoand polyoxyarnines.

5. The process of claim 1 wherein the auxiliary mineral agent includes sodium carbonate.

6. The process of claim 1 wherein the auxiliary mineral agent includes sodium silicate.

7. The process of claim 1 wherein the auxiliary mineral agent includes sodium phosphate.

8. The process of claim 1 wherein the synthetic dctergent is a long chain alkyl aryl sulfonate.

9. The process of claim 4 wherein the softening agent is made up of the mono and -diesters of triethanolaminc acetate with a saturated long-chain aliphatic acid.

(R fere ces m qllcw a-r s References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Charch Mar. 28, 1933 Bertsch June 30, 1936 5 Kritchevsky Aug. 10, 1937 Lenher et a1. June 18, 1940 Katz May 14, 1940 Morgan et a1. Dec. 8, 1942 6 Wolter Apr. 13, 1943 Kalusdian May 25, 1943 Barnard et a1. June 22, 1948 Bersworth Oct. 3, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Sept. 17, 1937 

1. A MTHOD OF LAUNDERING FINISHED TEXTILE GOODS THAT ARE ALREADY SOFT TO THE TOUCH AND ARE USUALLY REPEATEDLY LAUNDERED, WHICH COMPRISES WASHING SAID TEXTILE GOODS IN A BATH CONAINING A SYNTHETIC DETERGENT OF THE GROUP CONSISTING OF LONG CHAIN ALKYL SULFATES, LONG CHAIN ALKYL SULFONATES AND FATTY ALCOHOL CONDENSATION PRODUCTS AND AN AUXILIARY MINERAL AGENT OF THE GROUP CONSISTING OF ALKALI CARBONATES, ALKALI SILICATES AND ALKALI PHOSPHATES, AND SUBSEQUENTLY RINSING THE GOODS IN A SEPARATE BATH CONTAINING A CATION-ACTIVE TEXTILE SOFTENING AGENT. 